You can bank on Golden 1 Center being filled when it opens this fall. And many ticket-holders for live concerts and Kings basketball will be residents of downtown or midtown Sacramento.

But the arena isn’t the only thing drawing people to live downtown. No, they want to live close to the theater, live entertainment, music, art galleries and their jobs.

“If you look at the past history of downtown Sacramento, it was a place that people came Monday through Friday to work. It needed to start developing a package of amenities to get people to live in the downtown core,” said Michael Ault, executive director, Downtown Sacramento Partnership.

Today, there are many amenities.

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“The downtown core offers a complete lifestyle with live music, art galleries and restaurants. We’ll see the ultimate build-out of DOCO (the former Downtown Plaza, renamed Downtown Commons) and the Center,” Ault said.

People are checking out what downtown has to offer. DSP gets calls from people who say they are joining the workforce downtown and want to know about places to live. Or, calls come from people who say their kids are grown and gone and they’re tired of long commutes from the suburbs.

“There are incredible projects downtown and lots of options - The Creamery, the Mill on Broadway, 16 Powerhouse, the new 700 Block of K Street, 16th and N Street (Eviva Midtown) and the Bridge District, which feeds into downtown,” Ault said. “People have more choices of where to live and these options are all exciting.”

“I’ve been in this job almost 19 years and I’ve never seen an investment in real projects like this.

Downtown is changing.

“It can’t be just bars and restaurants; downtown also needs varied and unique retail,” Ault said.

Realtor Liz Edmonds of Lyon Real Estate, said people love being part of an energetic city. They like the architecture and the charm of the early days.

“That’s what sold me on Sacramento.”

She’s lived downtown for 40 years.

People like the art galleries, the restaurants and being within walking distance of so many places. There’s also a good bus system or people can ride their bicycles to work.

Edmonds specializes in selling old homes and she’s pleased to see that Washington Elementary School is reopening. There also are private schools and Montessori schools in the area.

“Younger people and professionals want to raise their children downtown,” Edmonds said.

And older adults can move back to the city where there are senior centers, she said.

“It’s exciting that we’re getting so many age groups. Even the governor has moved back into the mansion which has been renovated. It’s a historic home now.”

Preservation Sacramento has done so much since the early ’70s to keep the architecture in place, Edmonds said.

Preservation Sacramento is an organization dedicated to protecting Sacramento's historic places and encouraging quality urban design through advocacy, outreach and activism. The organization is sponsoring its 41st annual home tour in September.

Edmonds said there are many housing choices.

“The Creamery is an exciting project as is the Mansion Flats project at 15th and F streets which is reminiscent of Victorian architecture.”

Several other housing projects are in downtown. According to a list of fourth quarter 2015 development projects compiled by Downtown Sacramento Partnership, there are seven completed projects, seven under construction and 10 proposed.

Among the projects under construction are The Creamery from BlackPine Communities with 117 housing units; The Mill at Broadway, Bardis Homes,1,000; the 700 Block of K Street, D&S Development and CFY Development, 137; Eviva Midtown, UrbanCore LLC and Integral Development with LDK Ventures, 118; and Ransohoff Building, Sutter Capital Group, 22.

The Bridge District in West Sacramento will have 6,000 housing units.

In the resale market, home prices have risen substantially, Edmonds said.

“It has been a very positive market for older homes.”

They start in the high $400,000s while larger, elegant homes are just shy of $1 million, she said.

Four-plexes and condominiums are in very high demand and 59 condominiums are active or sold in the past six months. Twenty-one duplexes which are part of a family home sold for an average price of $484,000.

Homes are priced in the $500,000s and fixer-uppers are selling for $300,000 to $400,000.

“Many homes were built in the teens and ’20s, and it’s nice to see these treasures sell. Old housing is still doing nicely in downtown and midtown,” Edmonds said.